Fuel rails are used to deliver fuel to individual fuel injectors on internal combustion engines. Fuel rails for, for example, port fuel injection (PFI) engines are often coupled to an intake manifold. Fuel rails are designed to have a pocket or seat for each injector as well as an inlet for a fuel supply. Some fuel rails also incorporate an attached fuel pressure regulator. Fuel rails are used on engines with multi-point fuel injection systems, although some multi-point systems use a fuel distributor with individual pipes or tubes to feed each injector. Fuel rails are generally coupled to an intake manifold, which is the part of an engine that supplies the fuel/air mixture to the cylinders. Fuel rails need to be grounded. However, intake manifolds are generally made of plastic, which electrically isolates the fuel rail from a common vehicle ground.
Traditionally, a bolt is used to couple the intake manifold to a grounded cylinder head. A ground plate, which is ohmically connected to the fuel rail, is generally secured by the bolt to the intake manifold. Accordingly, the bolt ohmically couples the cylinder head to the ground plate. However, the ground plate can interfere with the secure coupling of the bolt, potentially causing the intake manifold to loosen from the cylinder head and causing the fuel rail to again become electrically isolated from the vehicle common ground.
Accordingly, it is desirable to securely ground the fuel rail while securely coupling the intake manifold to the cylinder head. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.